


Wolf Whistles 9

by 852_Prospect_Archivist



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: AU, Alternate Universes, Angst, Bestiality, M/F - Category, Partner Betrayal, Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 08:22:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/795985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/852_Prospect_Archivist/pseuds/852_Prospect_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blair mets another werewolf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wolf Whistles 9

## Wolf Whistles 9

by Athena

Author's website:  <http://fateordestiny.com>

No animals were harmed while writing this story.

This story is a sequel to: Wolf Whistles 8 

* * *

Simon and Rhonda escorted a blindfolded Blair to the breakroom. Rhonda pulled off his blindfold to show him a room covered with party balloons and children's party decorators. The plates and cups had happy faces and colorful sixties peace signs. Blair beamed when he saw the cake with happy birthday written on it. 

Simon lit the two number candles, 3 and 0. Everyone in Major Crimes sang Happy Birthday. When they got to "How old are you now?", Blair said, "In human years or dog years?" 

Jim said, "You're dead in dog years." 

"Very funny, man." Blair blew out his candles and wished to be a normal young man. He wanted to be back at Rainier being giving shit work by idiot professors. At least, no one at CPD had a bad word for Blair, even Sam had forgiven him for standing her up, and his vet said he was very healthy. Jim said no to all shots but the rabies and distemper. After Chief got his shots, Jim allowed the vet to give him the drops to prevent heartworm or other parasites. The indignities Blair suffered when werewolves couldn't get sick. 

"We only got two candles," said Rhonda, "because if we put thirty candles on the cake we would have burnt down the police station." 

Rhonda gave Blair a package. "Do you want to eat you cake or open your presents first?" 

"Cake," Blair said. 

Simon cut the first slice. 

"To keep you away from sharp objects," said Henri. 

"My finger was as good as new the following day," Blair said as he started eating his cake. He had sliced off the finger below the knuckle on the papercutter. As he howled in pain, Rhonda wrapped the finger like it was nothing. "It looked worse than it was." 

"He didn't even need a stitch," Rhonda said, cutting herself a slice of white cake with buttercream icing. 

Rafe laughed at the cake. "The cake decorator must have laughed her head off." 

"It's not unusual request. At twenty, you want to be an adult. At thirty, you have to admit you're grown up." 

"I can't call you kid anymore," Simon said. 

Jim pushed a present in front of Blair. 

"It's too big to be the keys to the truck." Blair opened large package to find a new case for his laptop. 

"Plenty of room to put your CD's," said Jim. 

"It's an office present." Megan hugged Blair. 

"Everyone in the office contributed," Rafe said. 

"Thanks, guys," Blair said. "Eat the cake." 

"I'm on a diet," said Henri. 

"For the next ten minutes, then he'll have two slices," Jim said. 

After everyone ate the cake, Rhonda took Blair to Simon's office. "I know I contribute to the office gift, but I wanted to give you something more personal." 

Rhonda gave him a box wrapped in brightly colored paper. "This is for the plane ride." 

Blair tore open the paper to find colored pencils, coloring books and puzzle books. "Thanks. Jim and Megan have been so excited about the wedding that I feel like a burden." 

"I didn't want to insult you," Rhonda said. 

"It was good choice," Blair said. "Jim brought coloring books and 64 crayons for the plane ride." 

"It must be so hard for you." Rhonda put her arm around Blair's shoulder. 

"It hurts not to change. The pain is terrible. It hate that Megan will have keep her attention on me instead of her bloke." 

"It's only seventeen hours." Rhonda said. 

"It will feel like forever. Megan has been practicing with me on staying human. A wolf, suddenly, appearing in a plane over the Pacific would cause a panic. I can't stay in cargo. It's too long and cargo is too dangerous." 

Blair returned to his filing. Jim put his hand on Blair's shoulder. "In a month, we're moving," Jim whispered. "Are you going to practice staying human with your mother?" 

Blair nodded then sat down to type. "I'm nervous." 

"You'll be fine." Jim kissed his forehead. "Chief, Megan is very good talking you through the pain. We'll pack you lots of candy and granola bars for the trip." 

Blair whispered, "I need a bitch." 

"We'll find you one. Megan's dad has a huge station. You can sire puppies there. After you are done typing, we can go to the park and play Frisbee." Jim finished his morning paperwork before walking Blair to the bathroom. "We could have lunch together before I question more witnesses." 

"It makes no difference to me." 

"We need to talk." Jim put a hand on Blair's shoulder. 

"I'm visiting my mom for a week. She's so ditsy that she'll never get down to Australia." 

"I assumed you would want to go because I'm going. I never asked you." 

"Each moment passes the same way." Blair shrugged his shoulders. "It was either jump those three stories or accept it. I made the decision when I let you put that collar on me." 

"What do you want to do?" 

"Color in my books. I need fingers for that." 

Simon yelled into the restroom. "I want those reports before you visit your mom." 

Blair exited. "They'll be on your desk in the morning." 

"I needed them yesterday," Simon shouted. 

"Jim, wait fifteen minutes and you can drive me home," Blair shouted as he pressed the print button on his computer then waited at the printer for them to print. So much for paperless offices. He handed the documents to Simon. "You could have read them off your screen." 

Blair put his presents from Rhonda in his new case. As he was walking out of the office, Simon gave him a big hug. "I will miss you," said the police captain. 

"You'll see me in a week," said Blair. 

"Have a good life," Simon said. 

"I'll be back in a week." Blair met Jim at the truck. He didn't expect his life to turn out this way. He was supposed to have his doctorate before thirty and be teaching at a prestigious university. Rhonda gave him puzzle books designed for a fourth to sixth grader, and she meant no insult by it. After making himself two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, he lied on the floor and put in his Simcity game in his laptop. 

Jim and Megan arrived home rather last. Jim pushed the sleeping wolf unto the floor. "He knows better than sleeping in my bed," Jim said. 

"He's going away from a week. Have some compassion," Megan said. 

Jim undressed and started to remove Megan's blouse. Jim kissed her neck and moved his hand onto her breast. 

"Not in front of Sandy," said Megan. 

"We have been doing it in front of him for over a year," said Jim. "Now you want to put a bag over his head." 

Blair loped downstairs and started yelping, a pitiful cry. He wasn't one to feel sorry for himself. Naomi had taught him to make lemonade out of lemons, but he didn't know how to anymore. Megan ran downstairs after him and hugged him. "Sandy, I don't know if you understand me. Honey, I didn't curse you. You don't deserve this. You are the sweetest person I know." 

Blair worked on firing the right neurons to cause the change to happen. He did it every morning, but night wasn't a good time. Finally, he felt his snout shorten. Megan continued to pat the naked man. "You don't have to pet me," said Blair. "We can talk until the pain hits." 

"Why are you crying?" asked Megan. 

"I was expected to be teaching at Rainier, Berkeley or Colombia, not chasing Frisbees." 

Megan wrapped her arms around him. "Sandy, there are no words that I can say to comfort you." 

Blair allowed himself to return to wolf form as soon as the pain hit. 

Megan stroked his fur as if nothing unusual happened. "Sandy, you can sleep on our floor if you want." Megan walked back to the bedroom that she was sharing with Jim until the move to Oz. "Jimbo, he's so lonely." 

"He needs a bitch," Jim said without emotion. 

"That's any awful thing to say." 

Jim returned to kissed her and unbuttoning her blouse. "He has needs." Jim licked her breast. "I rather not think about Blair at the moment. Your father has other dogs; he won't be lonely there. If there was something I could do, anything I could do, don't you think I would have done it ten times over?" Jim moved his hand over Megan's flat midriff. "I want to think about spending the rest of our lives together." 

"Where Sandy is no more than a pet?" Megan motioned for Sandy to join them on the bed and patted the wolf. "When his mind isn't overrode with pain or primitive instinct, Sandy is still that boy who started college at sixteen. I wish I knew who he was before. You can't dismiss him." 

"You dismiss him. How would you feel if I bought a video to work of us doing the wild thing?" 

"I'd never speak to you, again." 

"But you have no problem with Chief being on the floor." 

"He has no interest. The men in the station would be getting off." 

"You knew Chief was a werewolf before we even started dating. Maybe, you're an exhibitionist who likes doing it for a crowd." 

"He has as much interest as the family dog." 

Blair really didn't have much interest. At first, he went downstairs and put his paws over his ears, but that was of little use. Humans were so noisy having sex. He decided to put up with it. He liked being in the room with Jim and Megan because it was better than sleeping alone. He hadn't had sex with Jim for over a year, not that he kept track of such things. He told Jim he wanted a bitch, but what he really wanted was to meet another werewolf. How much chance did he have of that? 

"What do you want me to do?" Jim said. "I miss the man he was. He calls me his Blessed Protector, but he's saved my life more times than I can count. On the day we met, he pulled us under a truck to keep me from getting run over." 

"You can't treat him like he doesn't have feelings. He knew Alex Barnes was a sentinel and you told him to shut up." 

"I was pretty messed up," said Jim. "It was pretty dumb to dismiss him. I'm sorry." 

"Tell him," said Megan. 

Jim looked into the wolf's amber eyes and scratched behind his ears. "I should have listened to you. I will make an effort to hear you out. Blair, I love you. If I listened to you, the incidents in Sierra Verde would never have happened and Alex Barnes wouldn't be in a mental hospital." 

Blair offered Jim his paw. _Shake._

Jim shook Blair's paw. "We have a gentlemen's agreement. I will always listen to what you say. I don't have to agree with your advice, but I will listen." 

Blair nodded. 

"Let's get some sleep. You have busy day tomorrow. You all packed for New York?" 

Blair nodded. He would be wearing his jacket on the plane and his wallet would be in his pocket. Jim would speak to the flight attendant to see that Blair is kept alert for the flight. Blair had his favorite CD's packed inside his new laptop case. His backpacks had snacks for a hungry werewolf. 

Blair had tickets for a flight from Cascade to Newark with a single stopover in Minneapolis. He would be sitting in the plane for an hour, but he wouldn't be changing planes. Jim told the ticket agent that Mr. Sandburg had special needs. 

The ticket clerk said, "The flight attendant will stay with him." 

"Good. Developmentally, Blair is somewhere around eight or ten. I don't want him getting off in Minneapolis or getting lost in New Jersey." Jim accused Blair of throwing the IQ test when results were in the educable range. Blair was tested so Jim could get papers to be Blair's guardian; it was painful for both of them. 

"The flight attendant will check Mrs. Sandburg's ID. We deal with Special Needs people all the time." 

Jim joined Blair at the airport terminal seating. "Will you be OK?" 

"It's a day flight. I have my laptop, my games, my coloring books and the crayons you brought me." 

After Jim spoke to the flight attendant, Jim hugged Blair and kissed his forehead. "Have a good flight and call me when you arrive." 

"I will. Bye, Jim." Blair went onboard with the flight attendant Blair took the window seat. He could play retard if it kept him from changing into a wolf and frightening a plane full of passengers. "I'm going to New York to see my mother." 

"Have you've been to New York before?" 

"When I was a child." He took a piece of chewing gum from his backpack. "Chewing gum helps keep your ears from popping. Do you want some?" 

"No thank you." 

Blair took out his CD player and earphones then put a CD on. Debbie, the flight attendant was pretty, but he couldn't date because he became a wolf by the light of the moon. When he got permission to put the tray down, he took out his crayons and a coloring book. "Debbie, do you want to color?" 

"Thank you for asking." 

Blair handed her a coloring book. "We'll have to share the crayons. Megan will color with me. Jim is a big macho cop. He won't get on the floor to color." 

"He's missing out." 

Blair was coloring a horse. One of the coloring books Jim picked out was fairy tales and he was doing a Cinderella going to the ball picture. At least, Jim didn't buy a Power Rangers or Barney coloring book. Jim could be clueless at times. Didn't he know there were adult coloring books? "I told him as much. I told him all any of us have are moments. He's wasting his moments being grumpy." 

"You're a smart man." 

Blair changed the subject. "Debbie, what are you coloring?" 

"A Christmas tree." 

"Do you like being a flight attendant?" 

"I get to travel places and meet people." 

"Do you like it?" 

"It's better than working in an office." 

"I work in an office. I've been working at the police station for three years." 

"What do you do?" 

"Data entry, file and gopher." Blair would teach Debbie to insert her foot in her mouth. 

"Do you like it?" 

"I wouldn't do it for three years if I didn't like it. Jim let me observe him for two years. Then Simon took me down to Human Resources and made them give me a job. Simon said his men were taking advantage of my good nature." 

"Jim is your guardian." 

"He promised to take care of me and he has my power of attorney." 

"That makes him your guardian." 

"Jim is my Blessed Protector. He saved my life when this serial killer tied me to a dentist chair. I told Jim, according to Chinese culture, once you save a person's life you are responsible for him." Blair colored several pictures in his book. Debbie only colored one, and he had the short attention span. 

When Debbie was helping the other passengers, Blair turned on his laptop to play a computer game. She stayed with him the whole layover and gave him extra cookies and a granola bar. 

Blair did a couple word searches, but they were too easy. It was like hunting for rabbits or finding bodies in rubble. He went back to coloring. Finally, they arrived at Newark. Debbie helped him with his backpack and laptop. 

Blair put down his laptop to hug Naomi. "Mom, this is Debbie. She sat with me on the flight." 

"Thank you, Debbie," said Naomi. 

"It was my pleasure," said Debbie. "Your son is a very nice man." 

After they left the airport, Naomi said, "My apartment doesn't allow pets, but my friend Sid has a dog." 

"Mom, I came all this way to see you. I have to work on staying human for the flight to Oz." 

"You change every night." 

"I can change back in the morning. No one is going to peek into your apartment to check if I wear pjs or not." 

"We'll see how it goes." 

"Mom, I'm still your Blair. My mind wanders a bit, but I'm basically the same person." 

"Jim has someone assist you on the plane." 

"He wants to keep me safe. I bought the tickets. I even bought the tickets when I flew cargo. Are you angry that you need to sit with me in the airport?" 

"No, dear. I took the week off to be with you." 

"Airline food sucks. Let's go out to eat." 

"Do you always think with your stomach?" 

"Yes, I'm a werewolf." 

Naomi hailed a cab outside the Port Authority and directed the cab driver to her apartment above a store in mid-town. "We will meet Sid outside his office." 

Blair followed Naomi up the three flights of stairs to her studio apartment. "My laptop will be safe?" 

"No one knows it's here, besides the door is triple locked." Naomi touched the collar of her son's shirt. "Your dog collar is poking through." 

"I'll tell Sid it's a fashion statement." 

"I could put it in my purse." 

"I put your name, address and phone on it so if I get lost while me the city. It will be me no good in your purse and if I put it in my pocket, I can't put it on if I don't have hands." 

"Wear a turtleneck." 

"I packed a couple." 

"What did Jim tell the flight attendant?" 

"That I had the intelligence of an eight to ten year old. Debbie was shocked when I told her that I type faster than Simon's secretary. Typing doesn't take brilliance; it takes practice." Leaving his backpack and laptop on the floor, Blair followed his mother out of the small apartment. 

They met Sid, an older man of average build, at the ground floor of his office building. Then Naomi and Sid discussed restaurants. Sid teased Naomi that she would just have to deal with two men that like eating dead animals. Sid and Blair agreed on steakhouses, Italian restaurants and anywhere else they service manly food. 

Sid laughed as Blair ate all his dinner plus two huge appetizers. "Your son is going to make me broke. Has he always eaten so well?" 

"I packed nuts, granola bars into his backpack to snack on between classes. He never outgrew that hollow leg stage," Naomi teased. 

"He's going to pay for it when he gets older." Sid patted his potbelly. 

Blair didn't want to think about that he wasn't going to get to Sid's age. Sid's hair was half gray and he had a few laugh lines, meaning he was probably in his early fifties. 

"So what are you going to do during your visit to The Big Apple?" Sid asked. 

"Mom suggested taking me to the Guggenheim and we can walk in Central Park afterwards," Blair said. 

"Naomi told me that you were poisoned while observing Jim," Sid said. "I'm sorry." 

"The city hired me without a test because I was observing Jim for my dissertation," said Blair. 

Sid smiled. "I hoped to publish your writing." 

"I don't write anymore," Blair said. 

"You should sue the police for damages since they failed to protect you from tainted food." 

"I ate the tainted pizza," said Blair. "I remember shooting Jim's gun at fire people then waking up at the hospital." 

"Blair works for the city," said Naomi. "Suing the city might cause animosity and it won't restore his attention span." 

"Aren't you moving to Australia?" asked Sid. 

"In a month. My guardian's getting married," said Blair. 

"James Ellison, your ex-lover. You shouldn't hold a former lover to a promise of forever," said Sid. 

"Jim loves me," said Blair. 

"What about his fiance?" asked Sid. "She can't be too thrilled to have her beau's former loving living with them." 

"Megan adores me," said Blair. "She takes me on walks, plays Sega and colors with me. She thinks of me as a little brother. Some nights, she tucks me in and reads me stories." 

Naomi said, "Sweetie, you type and file for a living." 

"Storytelling is an art in its self," said Blair. "I like when Megan reads to me. Most tribal dances are storytelling. Incacha said he was passing the way of the shaman to me before he died. I'm not much of a storyteller." 

"Debbie would disagree," said Naomi. 

"Debbie?" asked Sid. 

"The flight attendant that sat with Blair," said Naomi. 

They went to the art museum and park the next day. Naomi bought Blair a novelty ice cone from a vender. As they were walking along a paved path, Naomi asked, "Have you ever gotten lost and needed your tag?" 

"I have to be cut of out of my clothes once." Blair licked his ice cream. "Two other times I managed to slow the change enough to undress. Once I saw this bitch behind a fence." 

"What happened?" 

"I howled a bit too loudly and her owners called the pound. The vet kept talking about cutting my balls off. Jim gave him the endangered species lecture over the phone." 

"What's so funny?" 

"They would have grown back the following morning." Blair laughed. "I'm a werewolf, remember? Any cut or bruises I get today will be gone tomorrow." 

"Being neutered isn't the same thing." 

"I cut my finger off once." Blair gave his mother his cone and showed his mother his ten fingers. "You guess which one." 

Naomi looked at his hands. "I can't." 

"I couldn't tell you." Blair took back ice cream. "I don't remember which finger. Jim could tell you. He tossed it down garbage disposer. Jim, as a cop, gets nervous about dismembered body parts." 

"You shouldn't laugh about things." 

"Having Jim Ellison and Megan Conner as my guardians I'm lucky my parts grow back. I thought Jim was a maniac on the road until I got into a car with Megan. She used a taxi we were still in as a blockade. The whole time I was in the car with her I was praying that the legends about silver being the only certain way to kill a werewolf were true." 

"You can stay with me." 

"Your place doesn't take pets. I need space to roam. Wolves aren't apartment dwellers." 

"The loft?" 

"Has high ceilings and open space. Jim and Megan take me to the park a lot. Jim takes me on his stakeouts. Mom, you are the beagle or the toy poodle type." 

"You're my son." 

"You couldn't care for a young active wolf. It wouldn't work. You're vegetarian. I crave meat." Blair finished eating his ice cream cone. "I want a sausage." 

Naomi scrunched up her face. "I should be the one caring for you." 

"You can make me tongue when you haven't seen me in two years, but I don't think you would be comfortable seeing me eat raw or close to raw meat on a daily basis." Blair spotted a young woman wearing a loose cotton dress running into the bushes. Her thick black hair was half way down her back. The hair was, suddenly, replaced by a coat of silver, gray and white. The girl had become a wolf in a housedress. Was that what it looked like when he changed? "Mom, watch my stuff." 

He ran over to the she-wolf, undressed her and patted her fur. "I smell like you." He put took his nametag from around his neck. "We have the same condition." 

An older woman said, "Get away from her." Her hair was cut shorter than the young woman's, but the texture and thickness was the same. 

"Are you her mother?" asked Blair. 

"Get away from the dog," shouted the woman. "Back away slowly or I'm calling the police." 

"I'm also a werewolf," said Blair. 

"Did you do this to my daughter?" 

By now, Naomi had come over with his backpack. "He just arrived here from Washington State." 

Blair opened his backpack and took out his tag. "Call the number. He'll confirm everything." Blair sat down beside the she-wolf, placed his arms around her and put his head into her fur. She smelled so good like home, better than any perfume. He licked her fur then let her lick his face. 

The woman used her cell phone. "I have Chief here." 

Blair wished for Jim's hearing. What was Jim telling the woman? 

"He's fine. He licking my pet wolf and she is licking him. I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes. Do you want to talk to him?" The woman handed Blair the phone. 

"I'm good. I found another werewolf. I think I can help her." Blair gave the phone back to the lady and went back to cuddling the she-wolf. This must have been what Jim felt in that closet with Laura. Blair could lose himself in her scent. 

"Mr. Ellison, was Chief in Cascade a month ago?" 

Jim must have answered. 

"What is he doing in New York?" 

Jim must have told her to ask him herself because she hung up her phone. She gave the tag back to Naomi to put back in the backpack. "I'm LaToya Taylor. This is my daughter, Marcia, and you are?" 

"Naomi Sandburg." Naomi put the tag away. "My son Blair is fond of your daughter." 

"Does he realize he is sniffing and licking a wolf in the middle of Central Park?" said LaToya. 

"Probably not. Blair has a thing for the ladies." Naomi patted his shoulder. "Sweetie, let's get go somewhere more private." 

After getting up and brushing himself, Blair walked along side LaToya. "I can help your daughter." 

"How?" said LaToya. 

"I can teach her to control it. LaToya, I work a nine to five job and went from Washington to New Jersey by plane." 

"Mr. Ellison thought you were a wolf." 

"You called me Chief." Blair felt Marcia by his side. "That's the name on my tag. How much time does Marcia spend human?" 

"She was human for over six hours. We thought it was over and now she's a wolf, again." LaToya looked over the young man dressed in jeans and flannel. He wasn't the poster boy for normal. "You licked a wolf in the park." 

His eyes were drawn to a dog in his peripheral vision. Thursday afternoon at the park, people were getting off from work and exercising their dogs. "I can't help what I am." He scratched behind Marcia's ears. "Marcia, do you know biofeedback?" 

The wolf shook her head. 

"I will have to teach you biofeedback. Once you learn biofeedback; I can teach you how to force yourself to change and how to stop yourself from changing." 

"How will that help her?" asked LaToya. 

"She can change at home and not change at work. I'm able to stay human for long period of time. Marcia, you will be able to do that same." 

Marcia rubbed against Blair's side. 

"I wish I still had use Rainier's equipment. I will have to teach you biofeedback without fancy equipment. Marcia, I don't know how I'm going to teach you to control your pulse when you don't have hands to put over your wrist. You should be able to hear the differences with wolf ears and a stopwatch." Blair took a notebook and pen from his backpack. "I need your address and cell phone number." 

"I don't give my phone number to total strangers." 

"We aren't strangers. Wolves bond for life. Mom, stay with LaToya. I can call you for the address after I get some supplies from a medical supply store. Good-bye, Mom." 

Marcia tried to follow Blair. 

"Marcia, stay with your mother and my mother. I'll see you later." 

LaToya put a hand on Marcia. 

Blair waved good-bye. "I'll see you." After he bought a stopwatch, stethoscope and an electronic thermometer, he went to the rowhouse in Queens. 

LaToya opened the door. "Please, come in. Would you like some dinner?" 

When Marcia came over to Blair, he kneeled down to hug her. "Hello, girl." 

"I'm vegetarian," said Naomi. "Blair will eat whatever you have." 

Blair got some corn bread, pork and beans. "Mom, the potato salad has bacon in it. The cornbread is safe." 

"Thanks, sweetie," said Naomi. 

"Naomi, would you like some more coffee?" asked LaToya. 

Naomi replied, "Tea, if you have it." 

"I'm going to teach Marcia how to relax first," explained Blair. "She needs to focus on her body during the change." 

"She suffers so much pain," said LaToya. 

"I do, too. She needs to focus past the pain." Blair closed his eyes and focused on staying human. "I have about an hour of teaching time. I set my internal clock to have twelve hours a day human and the other twelve as a wolf." 

"You can't cure her," said LaToya. 

"I can give her control. I've been doing biofeedback since I was a child. I'm also an expert in yoga. I assume Marcia is as unaware of her body as most Westerners." Blair went to the living room and sat on the floor with Marcia. "Honey, we need to start with relaxing your body. We will use a stopwatch and the stethoscope to listen to your heartbeat slow. But for now, I want you to relax your body." 

LaToya laughed while Blair talked Marcia through a visualization exercise. "How is picturing somewhere safe going to help my daughter?" 

"I taught my son everything he knows about meditation and biofeedback. You insult him; you are insulting me," said Naomi. 

_Thank you, Mom._ Blair talked Marcia through meditation, hugging and petting her. He asked her to relax her whole body starting with her tail. When they got to her front paws, he checked to see if they were relaxed by picking one up to see it flop down. "You relax a bit too well," said Blair. "LaToya, Marcia fell asleep on me. Would it be all right if I sleep here? Marcia and I have plenty of work to do tomorrow." 

"Naomi?" said LaToya. 

"I can stay, too," said Naomi. "I took the whole week off to be with my son." 

Blair undressed, changed into a wolf and cuddled by Marcia. 

"Him and her together?" said LaToya. 

Naomi said, "Bitches only cycle every six months. My son only has that kind of luck when it comes to curses, kidnappers and serial killers. Besides, if he did give her puppies, changing between human and wolf would cause her to miscarry." 

Blair growled in his mother's direction. Marcia wasn't in heat, but sniffing a female werewolf was still nice. Her fur was so soft. He didn't want leave Marcia's side. He got up at five in the morning and barked for his mother to get up. The lazybones was asleep on LaToya's sofa. Naomi slip on her shoes and flopped on her coat. "LaToya, I need to take him for a walk." 

LaToya unlocked the front door. 

Naomi put the leash on Blair's collar. "Do you have a pooper-scooper? I don't have any pets." 

"I don't have any pets. We once had a cat, but she got hit by a car. Do you know what it is like to have to buy a pooper-scooper for your child?" 

Blair barked. _Now!_

"I have an idea. We're taking my son for a walk." 

"Naomi, we're in-laws." LaToya handed her a scooper. 

"Blair says two people can make a society; they are no longer alone," Naomi said. "We can talk while he does his business." 

They walked down the street. Blair marked a tree, a tree in Marcia's neighborhood. This was his neighborhood now. Blair and Marcia made a community. 

"Do you need to do the other?" asked Naomi. 

Blair shook his head. 

"Is Marcia an early riser?" asked Naomi. 

"No, we have couple more hours. How do you survive it?" 

"Jim told me that Brother Wolf is protecting Blair. He doesn't wag his tail because he is sad. I cried when he brought me a stick to play fetch." 

"Is this biofeedback any good?" 

"Blair is human eight in the morning to eight at night. Jim, Blair's legal guardian, is going to Australia. Blair has been working on staying human for twenty-four hours. Now that Blair has meet Marcia, I doubt he's going." 

_I'm not._ Blair continued to pull the leash. 

"Marcia has spent most of the last month as a wolf." 

"Blair has been a werewolf for over a year. You probably have to go to work in a few hours. I'll stay with our children while you are at work." 

"I'm a waitress. I don't need to be at work until four. Part of me feels like my daughter is gone although she is still here." 

Blair turned around to go back to Marcia's house. 

"Sometimes, I feel the some way. Blair went to college at sixteen. Now he's no longer able to read a book." 

_I can read a book. I just don't have the interest anymore._

"He said he works at nine to five job?" 

"He does. He's a typist. Blair worked as a police wolf until he got the werewolf thing figured out." 

"Marcia was straight 'A's, 4.0 in college." 

"Sounds like my Blair. He was working toward his doctorate in anthropology when this happened." 

"Physics." 

Marcia could learn biofeedback. Blair wanted to call Jim, but with the time zone difference, he would have to wait until noon to call. Blair and Marcia worked slowing heartrate. They used the stethoscope and stopwatch to listen to the changes. Marcia wagged her tail at each success. 

Blair called Jim on his cell phone. "Honey, I'm staying in New York. I found another werewolf that needs my help." 

"I'll mail your books and clothes to your mother's address." 

"Thank you. I want to come back home to hug you and Megan one last time. Marcia needs me now. She is only human long enough to tell you what kind of kibble to buy, except she has been this way for over a month. She doesn't have you or Tom Whitefeather to support her or a background in yoga or biofeedback. The idea of controlling her physiology is foreign to her, and you thought I was crazy when I suggested that to you." 

"You sound like your old self." 

"It's great to be teaching, again. It's like those first months of guiding you." 

"I was more than a student." 

"You were my world. What happened? You stopped loving me. I never stopped loving you." 

"Your love for me changed. You started looking at me the way a child looks at a parent. I can't be a parent and your lover." 

"I wish you and Megan the best. You better send me wedding photos." 

"Better than that. You and Naomi are going to Sydney." 

"Steve is going to be your best man." 

"I want you to attend. Chief, Megan loves you almost as much as I. You have to attend, besides we worked so hard at keeping you human for twenty-four hours." 

"Only if you have the wedding over twenty-four hours after I arrive. I'm going to need some downtime in lupine form to recover from the plane ride." 

Megan took the phone. "Sandy, you take a plane to Cascade; we'll meet you at the airport like scheduled. Why waste your round-trip ticket? We'll only have to buy a ticket for your mum." 

"My mother can't afford to fly to Oz." 

"Sandy, the ticket is on Jimbo's dad. My dad is paying for the wedding. Jimbo's dad agreed to fly out a few of our guests. It's settled. You and Naomi are going to Oz with us." 

Blair wrote down the details before saying good-bye to Megan and Jim. 

LaToya said, "What is going on?" 

"My best friend is marrying an exchange cop from New South Wales," said Blair. "The wedding will be in a little town outside Sydney. I have a round-trip ticket. I'll be gone for two weeks." 

"What about Marcia?" asked LaToya. 

"It isn't for three weeks. In three weeks, Marcia will be able to stay human long enough to come with us." 

Marcia barked. 

"You're a good student," said Blair. "What you need to do is remember the sensations you feel when you change. You are going to try to repeat them. Once you can do that you can make yourself human whenever you like. I can't trigger a change, only Marcia can do that for Marcia." 

"Blair, your mother says they don't allow pets in your mother's building. You can stay here until the wedding." 

"I don't want to impose." 

"You're going to give my daughter her life back." 

"Marcia has to do the work. The hardest part of teaching someone to adjust the dials in her head is showing her that she has the dials." Blair stripped. "I've done enough talking. Marcia might response better if I'm on her level." 

Blair changed, knowing this would mess up his rhythm. Then, again, he needed to adjust Marcia's rhythm. It took two days for Marcia to learn to control the change from human to wolf, but she couldn't make herself human. She was an undergraduate that made her nineteen, twenty or twenty-one. Blair tried to be a patient teacher. Another two days had passed. Naomi would be returning to work. He should have been spending her vacation days with Naomi, instead of working with Marcia. His life never went as planned. 

Marcia was a good student. This wasn't rocket science; she could get this. After all, Marcia was a physicist. All she needed to do was control her own body for less than a second. Jim laughed at him, but he did it. It didn't give him the drive to read a book when there were bones to bury and rabbits to chase. 

After changing back to human, Blair touched the she-wolf's face. "Face, arms, hands. Think of your bones shrinking as your nose flattens." 

Marcia licked Blair's face. She closed her eyes and her body shook in pain as the she-wolf changed into a human female. She hugged Blair. "I did it." 

"Now I want you to stop the change from happening," said Blair. "You can get dressed if you want." 

She licked his chest with her now human tongue. "I want to be naked a bit longer." 

He kissed her then licked her ear. "I don't have condom." 

"Werewolves don't get sick," said Marcia. "Blair, make me feel human." 

Blair did as asked. He sucked on her breasts, enjoying the taste of her salty sweaty body. Her breasts were little more than a handful, the perfect size. She had worked hard for this human body. Her skin was a beautiful light brown in the half-lit room. He kissed her flat stomach. Her hands grabbed his hair as he went down on her with his tongue. The wiggle of her hips told him that he wasn't her first. 

"Honey, get on your hands and knees," Blair whispered. "Werewolves can change during sex." 

"Have you ever?" asked Marcia. 

"Not since I was cursed. Your scent is in me. You're my one and only whether we make love or not." 

"I feel the same way." Marcia lied stomach down on a pillow. "Better. If I change, the pillows will ease my fall." 

Blair touched her butt-cheeks then her cunt. He wanted to sniff her a moment more; she smelled so good. He let her legs support them as he entered her. He thrusted, grabbed her breasts until she was screaming in joy. He came inside her. They were both human; another legend wrong. Wasted, he fell asleep beside her. 

* * *

Marcia had returned to wolf form. After sleeping on the living room floor another night, Blair changed into human form and dressed. Naomi had dropped off his clothes. He would spend time with his mom in Australia. He missed Marcia already and he hadn't even left. He then brushed his hair. If he kept his tongue in his mouth, he looked almost human. 

Finally, he made three eggs and four slices of toast. As he sat down at the table to eat, LaToya started the morning coffee. "You look happier this morning." 

"I decided to let my internal clock go to Hell. Australia is on the other side of the International Date Line; when I get home, I will have to reset it anyway." Blair spread margarine and jelly on his toast. "Marcia did it. She can make herself human. She can go back to school next semester." 

LaToya hugged him. "Thank you, Blair." 

"I'm going to visit my mother later today. Marcia and I are going to practice once or twice then she can use a break." 

LaToya got herself a bowl of cold cereal. "That's it. You go to Australia and you're gone." 

"When I get back from Oz, I'm moving in with my mother's friend Sid. He says I can work in the mail room until I find a typing job." 

"Marcia is nothing to you." 

"She's my mate." Blair ate his eggs and toast. "That isn't going to change. Call me old fashioned, but I'd like to talk to her for more than a couple seconds before I marry her." 

"You had sex with her?" 

"She's a werewolf; I'm a werewolf. I won't fuck a bitch and most women don't find a man who drools and growls attractive. She's it. Let me pretend to court her." 

"Blair, you're ok looking for a white boy." 

"I'm over thirty. I'm not a boy." 

Marcia came into the room in a blue cotton dress and on two-legs. "Mom, I have hands and a voice." 

LaToya hugged Marcia, as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I have my baby back." 

Marcia put up toast, put a pound of bacon in the oven then started cooking her eggs. "Blair, have you started growing your hair long after you became a werewolf or have you always worn it long?" 

"I've worn my hair long since I started college." Blair poured himself orange juice. "I'm getting a job sorting mail after I get back from Oz, but I will cut, if you think it will help me get a typing job." 

"Oh," said Marcia. "Mom, werewolves mate for life. It's chemical. You and Naomi can discuss wedding plans. Blair and I don't want a church wedding; a park or forest would be nice. Naomi would know about new age stuff." 

Marcia started eating her toast and eggs. 

"No love," said LaToya. "Chemical." 

"Blair has a masters in anthropology. If I didn't find his odor irresistible, he would still be a good catch. If he had read A Brief History of Time, he would be prefect." 

"I'll read it on the plane," said Blair. 

Marcia stuck out her tongue. "I'm teasing." 

LaToya drove Naomi and Blair to the Newark airport. Blair kissed Marcia good-bye. "Another week and you would have been able to do that plane ride over the Pacific Ocean." 

"I wouldn't want to risk it." Marcia continued to hug him. 

"Mom says I can sleep part of the way. Loose clothes, no undressing and she'll hide me under a blanket." Blair kissed Marcia, again. "I will miss you so much." 

Other than needing to switch planes in Chicago, the flight to Washington was uneventful. At the Cascade airport, Megan greeted Blair then Naomi with a hug. Blair then greeted Jim. 

Jim said, "You look good." 

"I'm in love, man. She's five foot two, 105 pounds, nice breasts, black hair to her waist." Blair took a photo from his backpack. "She has the most beautiful smile." 

Megan stole the picture from Jim. "Pretty girl." 

Blair put the photo back inside his backpack. "She's smart, too. 4.0 in physics." 

Megan kissed his cheek. "What does she see in you?" 

"I gave her her life back." Blair couldn't say it was chemical. He had marked the trees in her neighborhood. She was his lifelong mate. All he knew was his heart ached for her so much that he didn't know how he would survive the next twenty-four hours, let alone the next two weeks. Seeing Megan and Jim's happy faces was all that kept him from boarding the next plane back to the East Coast. 

Jim drove his old truck to the police station and escorted Blair to Major Crimes while Naomi and Megan were doing women's things or so they said. 

Henri threw an arm around Blair in the hallway. "Jim says you found a girl in New York." 

Blair shrugged his shoulders. "It's closer than New South Wales." 

As they came into the bullpen, Henri shouted, "Hairboy found Ms. Right." 

"A's in physics. I'm planning to work while she finishes her schooling." 

'So she's smarter and prettier than you," said Henri. 

"And hairier," said Jim. "Her hair falls to her waist. According to her photo, I'd say she looks Hispanic." 

Blair said, "Her father is from Bolivia." 

"He isn't a drug dealer or an arms smuggler," said Rafe. 

"You guys are so funny," said Blair. "I will have you know she hasn't spoken to her father in years." 

"When you get kidnapped, you will be NYC-PD's problem," said Rafe. 

Jim gave Blair a nuggie. "Chief, let's get you and your mother settled in for the night." 

"Good-bye, guys. Is Simon in? I need to give him a good-bye hug." Blair walked to Simon's office. Rhonda came in as Blair sat down to wait. 

"Did you enjoy the puzzle books?" she asked. 

"Too easy." Blair leaned his head on his hands and closed his eyes. "Marcia bought me a couple puzzle books put out by Mensa. I like the challenge." 

"I didn't mean to insult you." 

"None taken. I wouldn't know what to buy for me, either. I can't remember what I read paragraph to paragraph, but I can find the smallest trace of cocaine leaking out of a plastic bag. I used to tease Jim about being able to recognize and label over three hundred scents. I don't think I'm any less bright; my brain just processes things differently." 

"You go to New York for a week and you find the girl of your dreams. Are you sure she is the one? You cried over Maya for days." 

"I know. Marcia's beautiful intelligent. And she has hair halfway down her back and she insults my hair." 

"A girl with chutzpah." Rhonda smiled in a motherly way. 

Blair smiled back. "I'm going to cut my hair. Get a new do for the new millennium." 

Simon had entered the office while Blair was talking. "Sandburg is cutting his hair. First lycanthropy. Now he is replaced by a pod person." 

"He's in love," said Rhonda. 

Simon sat at this desk. "Who is the lucky girl this week?" 

"Marcia Taylor," said Blair. "She doesn't like my long hair; she thinks it's too seventies. She told me she was going to cut her hair while I was in Oz. She says she doesn't have enough hours as human to spend two of them fussing with her hair. She is going to surprise me with something short and sporty. I should do the same." 

"You really are in love," said Simon. 

"Head over heels; it should be, heels over head," said Blair. "I never understood that expression. All I know is I am thinking of ways to cut out of Jim and Megan's wedding to get the next plane back to her." 

Simon hugged him. "I wish you luck." 

"I don't need luck. All I need is Marcia beside me. I love Jim and Megan, but this is like several magnitudes higher in the love department, if that makes any sense." 

Simon forced a smile. "Sandburg, stop gushing in my office." 

Jim came into the office. "Simon, Marcia is another werewolf. Blair said something about her scent being in him. I think his attraction to Marcia is physiological. The picture he has in his backpack will be crumpled before he's on a plane back East." 

"Marcia and I know it is chemical," said Blair. "It doesn't make it less real." 

Jim led Blair out of the police station and back to the truck. "Chief, I'm not insulting you. I response to Megan's pheromones in heightened way because I'm a sentinel." 

"You once responded to me that way," said Blair. 

"Yes, I did. You have Marcia and I have Megan. It's water under the bridge as they say." Jim started the truck. "We are meeting the women at The Pasta Barn. You look like a man that could use a bottomless plate of spaghetti heavy on the meatballs." 

"This isn't Laura," said Blair. 

"You said that was purely instinctual reaction to another person's body chemistry," said Jim. 

"I also said that the feelings it causes were real. I feel them now and they are real. I marked the trees on her street because it was her street. I want to cut my hair for her. You remember how many times I yelled about not touching the hair." 

"Chief, you've got it bad." 

Blair rested against the seat of the Ford. "Don't I know it!" 

The following morning, Naomi helped Blair with his passport and boarding pass. He carried his laptop and backpack full of snacks onboard the plane. Blair looked out the window as Naomi placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sweetie, take off your shoes and socks. I hate seeing you in pain." 

"What if someone sees me without my blanket," said Blair, not facing his mother. "We don't need a panic at three thousand feet." 

"You shouldn't suffer needlessly. No one will see anything." 

"I'll sit next to Megan." 

"She should sit next to her fianc." 

"Mom. I'm going to read Stephan Hawking. I didn't want to go for this reason." After they were in the air, Blair read the book he promised to read for Marcia. All the stuff about the nature of the universe made sense as he read it. He ate a granola bar then a Planter's peanut bar, knowing his food would run out before the flight was half over. 

"A Brief History of Time?" said Jim. "You can't remember one sentence to the next." 

"So what? Just because I can no longer get the big picture doesn't mean the little pictures aren't enjoyable," Blair said. 

"You have a 60 IQ. Steve Hawking is a bit out of your league," said Jim. 

Naomi patted her son's hair. "You're upsetting Blair." 

"You were tested so I could be your legal guardian. If you threw the test, it's fraud." 

"You read the report. He gave me the benefit of the doubt when he could. I would have done better in the non-verbal areas if they weren't timed. He pulled the cards away before I finished." He didn't recall the other details of the test. He only remembered the cards being pulled because he could have got the picture series right if he was given more time. 

"Read your book," Jim said. 

"Blair was tested at fourteen; his IQ was 136. Any fool can see that he doesn't function the way he use to. Why hurt him?" After a lunch of airplane food, Naomi covered Blair with a blanket. "Sweetie, everyone expects you to sleep." 

"Just make sure no one sees an ear, a tip of tail or a paw." Blair yawned. "It's been over a year since I slept in clothes. I don't know if I can get comfortable." 

"You're wearing Jim's sweats. Plenty of room in the waist," said Naomi. 

"I heard that," yelled Jim. 

"I like your love handles," said Megan. 

"So what are you going to do in Oz?" asked Naomi. 

"We need to put in a year or two in New South Wales Police Services teaching them everything you Yanks taught me, which isn't much," teased Megan. "Then we can ran off to the Outback and get us a station with no people for kilometers." 

"I was thinking the about going into Search and Rescue. Sentinels weren't designed for modern noise pollution." 

"Jim, none of us are," said Blair. 

"Any children?" asked Naomi. 

"We may try to squeeze in a tike or two," said Megan. 

"Sounds great," said Blair, peeking out of his blanket. 

"I wanted you to be my partner," said Jim. 

"Marcia and I might be able to join you after she finishes school. New York City isn't a good location for werewolves. Wild animals and enchanted beasts need space." 

"Straight 'A's in physics," said Megan. "She can transfer to Uni." 

"I don't know if she'll be able to withdraw without incompletes or be able to take the finals," said Blair. "I would hate to see her grades fall." 

"Since she was a 4.0 before she ended up taking a month off," said Naomi, "her professors should let her make-up the work." 

"After only missing two weeks, I called to make-up the work and my adviser acted like I was stoned," said Blair. 

"You had been missing classes and important meetings since you started observing me." Jim said, "Chief, they were looking for a way to get rid of you." 

"I gave Rainier almost half my life," said Blair. 

"And they treated you like shit," said Jim. 

Blair marked his page. "Mom, I need to go to the bathroom." 

Naomi pulled her legs in. "How's the pain?" 

"No pain, yet." Blair walked over to the bathroom. It felt good to stretch his legs. Everyone was so worried about him changing species that no one thought about how he would handle sitting for that many hours. After using the bathroom, he stretched his upper body before returning to his seat. "Jim, you owe me a few games of one-on-one." 

Megan whispered, "Jim zoned." 

"With the climate control, over two hundred heartbeats and the engines, I'm not surprised." Blair climbed into Jim's lap, which wasn't easy in coach seating. He put a hand on Jim's face. "Big guy, come back to us. That's it, Jim." 

Jim blinked at Blair and shook his head. 

"That's it," Blair said in his best guide voice. 

"I was listening to the jet engines," said Jim. 

"Not a good idea." Blair climbed down then climbed over his sleeping mother to get to his window seat. 

"Blair, you don't need to do that," said Megan. "I've been his guide since the Temple of Sentinels." 

Feeling very jealous and possessive, Blair took out his laptop and started blowing up some alien monsters. All the monsters in Doom were Megan. After he reached the next level, he cooled off a bit. Why was he jealous? He had Marcia. 

Blair saved his game and slept under his mother's blanket for the next five or six hours, a long night sleep for him. He kept his head under the blanket, recalling what he read about Newtown and gravity and Einstein and relativity. He had done his REM sleep as human and REM sleep was essential for long-term memory. Marcia could finish college. 

His stomach growled and he ate his last peanut bar, but he was still hungry. "Megan, do you have any dry cereal? Dry cereal saved your life before?" 

"When was that?" asked Megan. 

"When you came into your living room while I was doing yoga. Crossing a hungry werewolf's path is never a good thing," explained Blair. "I wasn't only sweating because I was doing a difficult routine. When I told you food fast, I was that close to sinking my fangs into you." 

A baby cried. 

"I'm sure the other passengers will cheer if I ate him," whispered Blair. 

"The baby's mother would mind," said Jim. 

"I can trust you to protect the innocent." Blair's voice changed to more of a whine. "The baby is still crying and I'm hungry." 

"You wanted to eat me?" Megan said like it took that long for it to sink in. Megan wasn't that dense. 

Blair hugged himself. "Yes, you and Jim forget I'm a werewolf, but I never forget." 

"You never thought about eating me?" asked Jim. 

"No, you're my alpha. Megan is now my alpha. She wasn't back then. I would protect you two with my life. That doesn't change the fact that I'm starving," whispered Blair. "I know you're hiding food." 

Megan took a bag of Oreos out of her travel bag. "Doggie want a biscuit?" 

Reaching over the seats, Blair grabbed the bag of cookies. "Don't tease a hungry werewolf," he said, ripping into the bag. Blair shoved several cookies into his mouth, chewed them and swallowed. "We are crossing the International Date Line. If I went to sleep yesterday, is today tomorrow? And that none of this really matters because there is no such thing as Absolute Time." 

"Absolute Time?" asked Megan. 

Blair put one cookie in his mouth his time. "Yes, we each experience our own time based on the speed we are traveling at any given moment. The speed of light is a constant, our sense of time speeds up or slows down based on how fast we're traveling. We're aging slightly slower than the people on Earth because we are flying in this airplane. The difference can only be shown on the most sensitive atom clocks, but it is there." 

"You learned all that from A Brief History of Time?" said Megan. "I get the book when you finish it." 

"Get your own copy," said Blair, clutching his book and his cookies. "I'm borrowing it from Marcia." 

"Eat the biscuits," said Megan. 

"Last night, I slept as human and I remember what I read and hard sciences aren't my best subject. I usually dream as a wolf. Experiments with rats show that rats that aren't allowed to REM sleep don't learn from their mistakes." 

"You dream," said Megan. "All mammals dream." 

"Yes, I dream about chasing rabbits and playing fetch. I no longer dream about showing up at a lecture naked and unprepared." 

"Is this conversation leading anywhere?" asked Jim. 

"Yes, if I can get Marcia to spend part of her sleep-time human, she will be able to continue her education." 

"Can sleeping as human help you?" asked Megan. 

"Yes, but I'm comfortable as I am." Blair ate more cookies. "I like dreaming about chasing my tail. Why do go back to falling elevators?" 

"You process new information slower," said Megan. 

"My REM sleep doesn't affect my previously stored memories." 

"Let's see." Megan found an intelligence test in the puzzle books Marcia bought Blair. "We'll both take it. I'll take it first then you. We won't score mine until you're done." 

Blair looked at the test. "It's pattern recognition and logic questions. It doesn't test my ability to learn." 

"It will keep us both up." 

"I'm sorry that I told you about looking at you like food." 

"Sandy, I know what you are and Jim and I packed lots of food, so don't worry." Megan took out a blank sheet of paper and the test booklet. After completing Megan completed the test, Blair did it. Then Megan scored hers. "121," she said. "A little higher than the one I took doing high school." 

Blair scored his. "117. One standard deviation above normal. Marcia hoped I would be able to join Mensa. I need to be two standard deviations above normal." 

"Sandy, you have to try to sleep as human. You're a totally different person." Megan took the paper and test booklet from Blair. 

"I have to take the subway to work. When I am going to get the opportunity to sleep?" 

"Maybe you can take a long lunch and nap in the breakroom. I've had REM in a twenty-minute nap. 117 is a lot higher than 62." Megan put the test and papers in the pocket in the seat ahead of her. The result of the test he took for the guardianship papers was 62 and had adaptive behavior of preadolescent. 

Blair shouted, "How can you just tell me to take a nap during the day and I would be several standard deviations higher in intelligence?" 

"Listen to yourself," Megan said. 

"Shit. A nap during the day." Blair thought about Brother Wolf protecting him. "I'm sentenced to spending half my life on four legs. How doesn't raising my intellectual function going to help me?" 

"So tonight you'll dream of drinking from the toilet and you'll process today's memories as a wolf." 

"Yes, and I'll be happier for it." Blair went back to reading his book. 

After Megan woke Jim from another zone, Megan handed him the test and a fresh sheet of paper. "Blair and I took it and got nearly the same score. We want to see how you do." 

"Sure," said Jim. "It should be good for a few laughs." 

After Jim finished the test quicker than Blair or Megan, Blair scored it. Blair's mouth dropped open. "You could have gotten one wrong." 

"It's meaningless." Jim started to read his book. 

"Mr. Zero Questions Wrong would say that," said Blair. 

"Chief, you taught me how to look at problems from different viewpoints. I saw questions I would have been stuck on if it weren't for you teaching me to think outside the box," said Jim. 

"Compliments aren't going to save you," said Blair. 

"You and Megan are both talented problem solvers. So what if I got a perfect score and you missed a few questions. It's a stupid test." 

Megan kissed Jim's cheek. "If Dad calls you a daft Yankee cop, you can tell him otherwise." 

"He still hates me because I was divorced." 

"Mr. Conner's little girl should be your one and only." 

Blair finished his cookies. "Don't tell him that we were lovers for almost a year." 

"Jimbo, Daddy would not understand the sentinel thing. Do you have to sleep with all your guides?" Megan put a hand on Jim's knee. 

"You're the only guide I need." Jim put an arm around her. "Conner, come here." 

She rested in his arms and kissed him full on the lips. Blair missed licking Marcia's face and behind. He loved Marcia smell and taste. Hugging himself, he thought about having his arms around his beautiful Marcia. He wished Marcia were on the plane with him. This was going to be the longest two weeks in his life. 

"Daddy won't understand that." 

Blair started laughing. "Conner, Conner," Blair said in a breathy voice. He tried sleeping between them, but that only stopped them a few times. They then pushed him onto the floor. Pissing on Cassie got her out of Jim's life, but Blair didn't want Megan out of Jim's life. 

Megan said, "Who let him sleep on the bedroom floor?" 

"You felt sorry for him," said Jim. 

"He gives those puppy dog eyes and you forget he is a man-killing beast," said Megan. It was just that Blair had belonged in Jim's bed. The floor wasn't the same. Still, the floor was better than sleeping downstairs all alone. 

"I never killed anyone outside of a raccoon or squirrel," said Blair. 

"What about those rabbits I've watched you eat when I take you camping?" said Jim. 

"Rabbits are vermin," said Megan. "I felt sorry for the weasel Sandy ate on our last fishing trip." 

"Suggest that Marcia comes down for a semester," Jim said. "We can have two werewolves on the rug. Rabbits watch out." 

"Marcia will need to sleep as human and attend university as human," said Blair. "She'll end up spending all her downtime as wolf." 

"She'll be doing the same thing whether in Sydney or New York," said Megan. 

"I love her smell, her soft fur," said Blair. "Did I say I love her smell? She has this wonderful earthy smell. I can sniff her butt forever." 

Megan swallowed hard. "Sandy, no one wants to hear about your sex life." 

"I heard yours. 'Conner, you feel so good. Conner, Conner.'" 

Megan laughed. 

"You squeal," said Blair. 

"I do not," said Megan. 

"I can't believe you knew Blair was a werewolf the whole time," said Jim. "I should kill the both of you." 

"I wanted to see if you would admit it," said Megan. 

Blair returned to reading Stephen Hawking. The baby was still crying. 

Jim looked up from his reading. "How can Naomi sleep through that? 

"Let me eat him," whined Blair. 

"They'll put you to sleep," Megan said. 

"I'm a werewolf," said Blair. "I'll wake up." 

'They could toss you from the plane," said Jim, "even you won't survive that." 

"Then I go over and tell the mother to shut him up." Blair walked over to the mother. "Stick a nipple in his mouth. My friends and I are in our seats making Modest Proposals." 

"I'm trying by best," said the young mother. 

"Do you want me to try?" asked Blair. 

The woman handed Blair the blanket then placed the six-month-old baby in his arms. "You try." 

Blair put the baby on his shoulder. One good burp and the child cooed. "He should go to sleep now." He handed the baby back then returned to his seat. "Handled." Blair returned to looking for food. "Jim." 

"I have a case of beef jerky in my carry-on." Jim gave him several packets of jerky. "That should hold you for a couple seconds." 

They got to Sydney without anyone eating the baby. Mr. Conner was so busy hugging his only daughter and staring Jim down that Naomi and Blair snuck to the hotel to clean up and rest. After a nap, shower and a large plate of spaghetti from the nearest Italian restaurant, Blair felt much better. Then he went to the barbershop and had his hair cut for the wedding. 

"Mom, what do you think of my haircut?" Blair asked. 

"It's short." Naomi closed her book. 

Blair felt the curls on the top of his head. "It will grow." 

"If you're happy, I'm happy." 

Blair looked at the small hotel room with two full-sized beds. "I miss Marcia." 

"It's only two weeks. Maybe, you can call her." Naomi kissed his cheek. "We'll buy her a postcard at the gift shop. You can mail her one each day we are here." 

The cashier sold Blair a half dozen postcards and directed him to the post office to get stamps. After he mailed off the picture postcard of Sydney Harbor and bought enough stamps to mail off the five others, Blair said, "Mom, let's take a taxi to the Conner station." 

Megan hugged Blair at the door. "Dad, this is Blair Sandburg and his mother, Naomi." 

"Good day," said Mr. Conner, shaking Blair's hand. "You're Jimbo's best mate." 

"Yes, sir," Blair said taking his hand back from the big man. 

Megan complimented Blair on the haircut and told him could use the phone in the kitchen to call Marcia. "Keep it short." 

Blair sat at the kitchen table as he talked to Marcia. "I love you. I miss you so much." 

"I miss you, too." 

"Honey, you need to sleep in human form if you want to pass your finals." 

"I change in my sleep." 

"Take naps during the day. You need to dream as a human. Your mind needs to rehearse your finals. Dreaming about dog food and splashing in puddles won't help you pass physics and calculus," Blair said in a soft even voice. 

"Are you sure?" 

"You may know about cosmic strings, but I'm the expert on the mind and body connection. You would still be barking twenty-three point five hours a day." 

"Sleep as a human." 

"On days you study and before a test, dream as a human. REM sleep is the key to passing your tests. Good-bye, dear. I love you." 

"Love you, too." 

Blair hung up the phone. The wedding wasn't for another week. Blair and Jim played basketball with Megan and one of her brothers. Stuart Conner, Megan's youngest brother, said, "You don't play bad for a short fellow." 

"Jim and Megan went undercover as a married couple soon after Megan arrived. To say, Jim and Megan hated each other would be an understatement. Simon wanted me to go along. I suggested pretending to be Megan's brother. She said I was too short." 

"And you talk too much," said Megan. 

"What happened?" asked Stu. 

"I had Jimbo eating out of my hand before we cuffed the perp," said Megan. Jim only cuffed Lonnie because Blair pinned him and threatened him with his fangs. A bit of drool didn't hurt either. Jim later helped Katie and Rachel find a canine companion at the humane society. 

"That's not exactly true," said Jim. 

Stu said, "Then it wasn't love at first sight." 

Blair said, "More like hate at first sight." 

Megan kissed Jim. "All's well that ends well." 

After a large church wedding, Naomi and Blair said good-bye to Bill, Steven and his wife. Sid greeted them at the Newark. "Hi, son. You and your mother can live in my house in Staten Island. Where is that dog of yours?" 

"I don't have a dog," said Blair, touching the tag with Naomi's address. 

"Your mother said you had a big dog that needed room to run," said Sid. 

"What kind of dog do you have?" asked Blair. 

"A German Shepherd," said Sid. "Lady is nine years old, sprayed and set in her ways." 

Blair walked toward the parking lot. "I hope she can tolerate me." 

Naomi said, "Blair is a werewolf." 

"Your mother is into astral projection. I'm more of a realist." Sid helped Blair put the bags into the truck of the car. After Sid started the car, Blair started undressing in the backseat, causing Sid to yell, "What are you doing?" 

"Getting undressed. I needed my clothes cut off me once. It wasn't fun." Blair put his clothes in his backpack before changing. When the car jerked forward, Blair howled. 

"What was that?" asked Sid. 

"Blair," said Naomi. 

At the light, Sid looked in the backseat. "There's a wolf in my car." 

"Blair turns into a wolf when he sleeps. He needs someone to keep him awake on planes," explained Naomi. 

"He doesn't eat people?" 

"Not if he is well-fed. Blair eats table food, dog food and will hunt his own. You know what he eats." 

"Over a pound of steak and three pounds of potatoes at a single meal," said Sid. Naomi and Sid put Blair's bags in the guest room as Blair sniffed around a bit then curled into a corner of the living room and fell asleep. Sid looked at Naomi. "Should I buy a doggie bed for your son?" 

"He would appreciate it?" 

After feeding Lady, Sid was making his own breakfast when Blair got up. Sid didn't turn around when he heard human footsteps on the stairs. Then he heard the shower run. Those old houses had paper-thin walls. After he ate his eggs and toast, he poured his coffee then let Lady out to the fenced-off backyard. Finally, he went upstairs. 

Sid yelled into the shower. "Blair, how are you doing?" 

"Fine," Blair yelled back. "Where did you and Mom put my clothes?" 

"In the guest bedroom." 

Wearing a towel, Blair went over to the guest room and closed the door. Sid went downstairs to drink more coffee. He was going to need a lot of coffee. 

Blair was dressed in jeans and flannel. He had his glasses on and a newspaper in hand. "Coffee and the sports page." 

"You're scheduled to start in the mail room two days. I can give you a tour of the building today if you like." 

"Thanks, Sid." 

"You're a good kid. The guest room is yours." 

"I can't sleep there. It smells like another dog." 

"Air it out. Buy deodorizer. I can't believe I'm having this conversation." Sid threw his hands into the air. "Lady lives here too. You have to get used to her." 

Blair removed his shirt. 

"Whoa, what are you doing?" asked Sid. 

"Getting use to Lady. I'm taken. I belong to Marcia. I hope Lady understands that." 

"She's fixed." 

"One of my mother's friends had a sex-starved poodle that humped my leg," explained Blair, "and I wasn't a werewolf back then. Then again, she humped everything and German Shepherds aren't as excitable as poodles. She tries to hump me, man; I'm moving in with Marcia tonight." 

"You and Marcia agreed to living apart until the wedding night." 

"I didn't agree to no horny bitch, sniffing my balls." Blair finished undressing and returned to being a wolf. He went outside and marked the one tree in the yard as if to say I'm the male and in charge. She had looked at him then went back to digging. Lady had been digging in that yard for years and never escaped. 

The doorbell rang. Sid answered to front door. "You must be Marcia. I'll let him know you're here." 

Sid opened the backdoor. Blair became human and dressed. Marcia hugged him then they both laughed. "You cut your hair," they said in unison. 

"It looks good," they spoke together, again. 

Marcia laughed so hard she needed to sit on the couch. Blair joined her and started kissing and hugging her. Sid left the room as it quickly turned to heavy petting. Young love, feh! 

* * *

End Wolf Whistles 9 by Athena: athena@fateordestiny.com

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Disclaimer: _The Sentinel_ is owned etc. by Pet Fly, Inc. These pages and the stories on them are not meant to infringe on, nor are they endorsed by, Pet Fly, Inc. and Paramount. 


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